A Mayville family is lucky to be alive after a terrifying run in with an armed vagrant at Burman Bush Nature Reserve on Good Friday afternoon.
According to Lynette Abrahams, she together with family members from Musgrave decided to have a picnic in the “quieter” park at the Burman Nature Reserve as all the others were too busy.
“We went to have a picnic with three families and children at around lunch time. My cousin and I decided to take my nephews on the nature trail at around 2 ‘o clock.
“We initially went with everybody, including the men, but one of the ladies couldn’t walk further so they escorted her back to the picnic area leaving myself and a female cousin, together with four kids aged between 4 and 13 to walk on.
“We went for a few kilometres along the trail when we became a little lost near the Kensington Flats clearing and saw a man who told us to use a specific path to get out. A few minutes later, down the path, we were accosted by the same man with a bush knife and a glass bottle filled with some dark concoction which he was waving at us and threatening us,” said Abrahams.
The man didn’t have shoes on and was unkempt, wearing old clothes and had a foreign accent according to Abrahams. “He screamed and asked the children to move. It was quite terrifying for the kids. As they moved he came to us, and told my cousin to drop her phone on the ground. As she put it down she told the kids to run and then he turned to me. He asked for my cellphone and watch and seemed uncertain about what to do, then screamed at me not to look at him.”
The children just ran for they lives while Abrahams waited for the vagrant to let her go. When he shouted for her to move, she ran to join her cousin and the children. “It was such a horrible experience. As adults it’s fine to be on your own when things like this happen, but when you have kids and they feel unsafe you really feel helpless. The children were traumatised. We just ran and hoped we were going in the right direction. We eventually managed to come out on the road near Kensington Heights, flagged a car and a couple entering the flat stopped to help us. They drove us to the rest of our family,” she said.
Armed response and police arrived a short while later and the family reported the incident. “We are just glad that we got out alive. I do feel that people need to be aware that the reserve is not safe. I am definitely going to contact the Parks and Recreation Department because the public needs to have more safety in the reserve. I have been to other trails alone with the kids and we pay a fee and the place is safe so the same should go for this reserve. We enjoy the nature and did not think the reserve was dangerous so were none the wiser. I just want people to be alert because this incident has really traumatised us, especially the children who look to us for protection. I’m just grateful nobody was hurt.”
Abrahams appealed to others who have experienced similar incidents to email her on lynetteabrahams5@gmail.com so that she can make a case to the Parks and Recreation Department lobbying for security or guides within the reserve.
